A SENATOR AFRAID OF ACCOUNTABILITY
If not for Premium Times, Sahara Reporters and some investigative news outlets in Nigeria, Nigerians would have been in total darkness to the workings of governance and government activities. Now, thanks to the latest accountability and transparency platform, though an offshoot of the ferocious PT, Udeme which means 'My Share' in accordance with the culture of the SS and SE people of Nigeria, was launched the same day with another fact-checking website - Dubawa. Udeme was established to track the implementation of constituency intervention projects inserted in the budget by the national legislatures, the Senate as well as the Representatives.
As a constituent under Oyo Central Senatorial District which Senator Monsurat Sunmonu is representing at the National Assembly, I decided it was wise to get answers directly from her or her office to avoid second guessing and unmerited criticism without facts when I got the 2016 constituency allocation to her SD from Udeme.
The step I took by sending her an email instead of a Facebook post was done to achieve certain purposes:
1. It was done to keep her to account in accordance with the prominent office she is occupying on behalf of the people of OCSD and also to keep her to the promise she made when she was presented as an House of Assembly aspirant in Olufigi compound in 2011 that she would always provide timely information and feedback to her constituents, in fact, through bulletin she promised.
2. I decided to send an email instead of an open confrontation (on Facebook), which may be misunderstood so that she could have an ample of opportunity to respond extensively and comprehensively.
3. I had decided that her response would deepen my belief in her leadership strength and by the time I make her responses known to other constituents in the District, she would gain more credibility, this I shared with a member of her team in private chat that she would benefit more from the gesture if she takes the opportunity.
But after waiting for 13 days to get answers to a few harmless questions without reply, I made a Facebook post to bring her attention and that of her team to the fact that I had sent an email waiting patiently for answer in their inbox. I then gave a-24-hour ultimatum to make the content of the email public with/out a reply.
To my surprise, the actions of Senator Monsurat Sunmonu's team called team SMS barely some hours to the D-day showed again the mindset of every Nigerian political leader that opinions and interests of the citizens do not count. What matters is donning crumbs to political layabouts, lapdogs and lowlifes who will praise and raise their stinking nonperformance to high heaven. And who will stick out their necks for the slayer's sharp knife without questioning, why? Instead of the Senator to respond to the email no matter how incoherent she might have sounded or instruct one of her stooges to pick up a thinking cap and work for the pay they receive from taxpayers money, they resulted into name calling, intimidation and gagging.
The screenshots of the email as shared by Ogunjinmi Monsuru Olalekan which they failed to respond to showed they actually received the email but dismissed it because it is coming from an 'inconsequential' constituent and by extension, Nigerian youth class. And the only explanation save for the follow up attacks on my personality even before I release the said email publicly by the team would be that Senator Monsurat chose to ignore the mail and sent her boys to gag me.
Take this from me, no matter the kinds of antics you adopt, some of us will continue to ask questions when necessary and commend you when occasions demand.
The content of the email is hereunder made available for your peruse with the amount received by the Senator in 2016 for Constituency Projects which Udeme claimed was cashbacked up to 80%.
THE NEED FOR CLARIFICATION ON THE 2016 CONSTITUENCY PROJECTS.
Good day my Distinguished Senator,
Let me go straight to the point by introducing myself. My name is Agboola Afees Akinola from Oyo East Local Government of Oyo State, Apinnin to be precise.
As a constituent under your Senatorial District, I felt duty bound to ask certain questions which I am optimistic you will provide factual answers to. These questions became necessary after seeing a pictorial evidence from udeme.ng - a social accountability and transparency organisation - on the total amount allocated to your SD for constituency projects as captured in the 2016 budget.
As contained in the said appropriation budget, a total of #250 million is said to have been allocated to your SD to procure 80 units transformers at #150 million, #50 million for 12 buses, #20 million to construct a skill acquisition centre in Ibadan, #20 million for 150 bikes and #10 million for 15 public toilets.
The questions then are:
1. Are these quoted figures correct? If not, can you please provide the correct ones and their level of implementation?
2. What is the level of implementation of this budget allocation if the above figures are correct?
3. Have these funds been released? If not, how much was released so far?
4. How many units of these transformers have been provided so far and their locations including the cost incurred?
5. What happened to the 12 buses? If they have been provided, where are they located and at what price? For what purposes are they to serve? And if they haven't been provided, why?
6. Has the Skill Acquisition Centre to be cited in Ibadan been constructed? Where exactly is it cited and at what price?
7. How many of the 150 bikes were bought and what was the modality used for the distribution?
8. Where are the 15 public toilets cited?
Note ma, your response to these questions will go a long way in assuaging your constituents who feel disgruntled or unclear about the implementation of these projects. Kindly do your best to respond to this mail with every sense of urgency with facts available at your disposal.
Thank you as I anticipate your reply to this mail.
Yours truly,
AGBOOLA Afees Akinola
Founder, BELAC.
27th March, 2018.